October222018

“‘We now urge the U.S. to consider the possible consequences,’ [German Foreign Minister Heiko] Maas said in a statement, hailing the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) as ‘an important pillar of our European security architecture.’

The deal, banning short- and mid-range nuclear missiles and the means of their delivery, was struck in 1987 between then-President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The agreement has been since regarded as one of the pivotal moments which effectively
ended the Cold War and rid Europe of the fear of a full-blown nuclear holocaust.

On Saturday, Trump announced his intention to terminate the treaty. He accused Russia of violating the agreement – something Moscow has repeatedly denied doing. Germany urged Russia to address the US’ concerns, but at the same time cautioned the White House against axing the decades-long deal.

Niels Annen, minister of state at the Federal Foreign Office, called Trump’s idea ‘devastating,’ stressing that his own nation will remain committed to nuclear disarmament. The minister also called on other EU states to prevent
mid-range missiles from reappearing on the continent.”

August022018

i12bent: On August 3, 1936 Jesse Owens proved all Hitler’s theories of the supremacy of the white race wrong by winning the 100 m sprint at the Berlin Olympics. Over the next week he took home three more gold medals…

i12bent: On Aug. 4, 1936 Jesse Owens won the long jump gold at the Berlin Olympics. He beat German athlete Luz Long (whose sportsmanship stretched so far as to give Owens a good tip after Owens had had two foul jumps) and Japanese athlete Naoto Tajima… This image of Owens giving his flag a military salute and Luz Long heil'ing his Führer has become the iconic image of the ‘Nazi’ Olympics.

i12bent: Upon Jesse Owens return to the US he was given a New York ticker tape parade. However, President Roosevelt never sent him a telegram congratulating him, nor did he invite the athlete to the White House. America being a segregated society Jesse Owens also had to use the freight elevator at the Waldorf-Astoria to get to the reception held in his honour…

July302018

“On July 30, 1916 an act of sabotage by German agents on American ammunition supplies in Jersey City, New Jersey (to prevent the materials from being used by the Allies in World War I) known as The Black Tom explosion caused seven deaths and extensive damage to the docks where the munitions were stored, thousands of broken windows throughout Manhattan, as well as structural damage to the Statue of Liberty…

‘The lessons to America are clear as day. We must not again be caught napping with no adequate national Intelligence organization. The several Federal bureaus should be welded into one, and that one should be eternally and comprehensively vigilant.’ — Arthur Woods, Police Commissioner of New York, 1919

9-11 echoes, anyone…?

Amazingly the US sought restitution and damages from the German Government, and in 1953 (two wars later as it were) Germany agreed to pay $ 50 million. Final instalment was paid in 1979…”

June122018

“Christo (born as Christo Vladimirov Javacheff) and Jeanne-Claude (born as Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon) were a married couple who created environmental works of art. Their works include the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont-Neuf bridge in Paris, the 24-mile-long artwork called Running Fence in Sonoma and Marin counties in California, and The Gates in New York City’s Central Park. Coincidentally Christo and Jeanne-Claude were born on the same date — June 13, 1935; Jeanne-Claude passed away last[2009]November…”

September142017

“As the story goes, a crew of Germans and Japanese were chosen to go on a Kamakazi mission to Mars, one month before the war ended in 1945. But what if it wasn’t a Kamakazi mission, what if they survived...”

July282017

Germany Opens First LGBT Mosque

Meriam Jabir is originally rom Irak but grew up in Munich. She says she has missed a place to go like this:

– I think it is great that liberal Muslims get to have a vouce, because so often only the conservative ones do. For young people it is especially positive that women and men are allowed to pray together, she says.

She appereciates that this mosque includes Muslimes who are excluded elsewhere.

Seyran Ates is the imam of the new mosque. She is borne in Turkey, but came to Germany with her family as a child. She is a layer and a writer, a feminist and an activist. In 2009 she recieved criticism from many Muslimes after writing a book advocating a sexual revolution in Islam.

June252017

June112017

June072017

“I’m against discrimination. I know that in those [homosexual] relationships the life is based on the same values, but I have a hard time to accept that those are equal. I personally won’t push a law that would make it possible that homosexual couples can adopt children. I know it is difficult for homosexual couples, but I think we shouldn’t think them equal to couples of man and woman. It is about the health of the children. I personally view it as something I can’t support.”

— Angela Merkel whenever she is asked if she will ever accept homosexual couples marrying or adopting children. Just in case you ever wondered why in Germany, where the vast majority of people want marriage equality and adoption rights for homosexual couples, none of that has become reality. The answer is Angela Merkel and her party are homophobic and it is only them. (via enchantedbyhiddles)

June032017

June022017

“…the local office of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) sharply criticized the actions of the police, as well as the general practice of deportations. The Social Democrats denounced ‘taking students from a school’ as an ‘absolutely unacceptable’ approach in dealing with the issue.

‘Young refugees must feel secure at school. Otherwise they will not attend lessons at all out of fear. It would be fatal for our integration efforts,’ Thorsten Brehm, the head of the local SPD office, told Bavarian Radio.

In the meantime, the German Interior Ministry said that failed Afghan asylum seekers would not be sent back to Afghanistan in the next few days following a blast in Kabul that claimed lives of at least 80 people.

At the same time, the ministry also said that the policy of collective deportations of illegal Afghan migrants remains in place.

‘The employees (at the embassy in Kabul) have an important logistical part to play in receiving the deported people… they cannot carry out this job properly so soon after the attack,’ the ministry’s spokesman said, adding that ‘there will be no collective deportations to Afghanistan in the next few days,‘ Reuters reports.

‘But it is and remains the case that deportations must be carried out according to our laws. This principle applies to Afghanistan, especially for criminals, and we will continue to go down this path,’ the spokesman also said.”